Mentoring Program

WE NEED MENTORS who are willing to commit to being important in a youth's life!

“I am a mentor with your agency and can share that my experiences working with with the staff in all of the cottages where my mentee lived were good ones. The mentor program was definitely a contributing factor in the growth of my mentee because the program introduced additional concerned adults into her life; her mentor and the mentoring staff. What may be one of the most important factors for this teen is that even when she acted out, as adolescents will do on occasion, D&M “hung in” with her. Their commitment to her success was obvious and it encouraged me to continue in my mentoring role. My mentee has moved on to foster placement with the possibility of adoption. "It does take a village!" – A.W.

The MentoringProgram is designed to matchqualified, volunteermentorswith youth.

Clients and residents at David & Margaret are matched with suitable and responsible adult mentors.

The goals for the Mentoring Program are:

- to improve upon the growth and development for youth by partnering youth with responsible adult mentors

- to improve school attendance

- to raise the level of self-efficacy, create positive values and to empower youth

- to decrease socially and self-destructive behaviors

- to develop supportive networks

We believe that the more frequent the contact between mentor and youth, and the better the quality of the mentoring relationship, the more positive direct effect on the youth’s improvement.

We run a highly structured program including initial and ongoing training for mentors and supervision of the mentor matches.The mentoring match is relationship-based, and focuses on the development and growth of the relationship instead of focusing on academics or other activities.